1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a digital communications network and, more particularly, to a system and method for providing redundancy between nodes of the communication network
2. Description of the Related Art
Redundancy is often applied in mission critical networks, or where down time cannot be tolerated. Although an asset in any system, redundancy may be difficult to arrange in some systems due to issues such as cost, throughput efficiency, and space constraints. All of these constraints work against the application of redundancy in optical networks, such as the synchronous optical network (SONET) for example.
Many emerging high-speed optical transmission systems are still in the stage of development, while longer existing systems have undergone constant changes in standards. As a result, there is little or no standard practice as to how redundancy should be implemented. Neither are there well-defined criteria to trigger primary units with redundant units, or even what diagnostic features are to be incorporated in triggering the selection of a redundant unit.
It would be advantageous if redundancy could be implemented at the chip level, as opposed to the box level, so that size and power constraints are eliminated as system level issues.
It would be advantageous if nodal receiving and transmitting units could be made programmable so that redundancy selection criteria could be changed or customized to individual users.